Stay With Me
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: She had turned up at his room late at night, blood trailing down her face... he wasn't going to turn her away. (Set in late 2015)
1. Comfort Is A Basic Need

_**Last night...**_

 _The door swung open and she jumped back, Finn fully waking up when he saw that Amanda had her duffel bag with her._

" _I'm sorry, I just… I tried several other rooms and got doors slammed in my face." Amanda says, Finn leading her into the room and seeing a thin trail of blood from her mouth after turning the lamp on._

" _Which one hit you directly?" Finn asks as he pressed a napkin to her mouth, getting Amanda to set her bag down and sit down._

" _Baron… the arguing kept him up." Amanda says before they saw a flash of red and blue lights outside. She stood up again, the two ducking to the floor._

" _It's okay, cops are gone." Finn says, helping Amanda stand back up to her feet and helping her sit back down before putting his hand on hers and hers to the napkin. "Hold that there, I'll be right back, love." He says, kissing Amanda on her forehead before grabbing his room key and ice bucket._

 _Finn left and found the ice machine, filling the bucket up… he wasn't really all that surprised to find a drunken Tyler Breeze near the machine but the man looked at him with barely hidden anger, which caught him off guard._

" _Keep your little tramp from roaming the hall at night! What's wrong, Balor, trouble keeping Mandy in your bed and out of Seth's?!" Tyler sneered._

 _Finn said no words, balling up his right fist and punching Tyler right in the nose, fed up with Tyler taking rumor and hearsay as truth… Tyler fell to his knees, crying and screaming about how his face was fucked up now._

 _Summer Rae had ran into the hallway from her and Tyler's room and to her travelling companion, helping him up and glaring at Finn._

" _He needs to keep his mouth shut about Mandy… bruised face and broken nose will be the least of his worries if he doesn't, Summer." Finn explained, taking the ice bucket with him before leaving._

 _He put the key in the door slot and opened the door, Amanda looking up at him… her lip had stopped bleeding but it was swollen badly._

" _Tyler wouldn't keep his mouth shut… I hit him." Finn says after closing the door, knowing that look in Amanda's eyes. He set the bucket down, put some ice in a Ziploc bag and pressed it to her mouth._

 _The dark haired Irishman could've sworn that Amanda tried to form her mouth into a slight smile at the thought of the Johnny Nitro ripoff on the floor crying like a little bitch… but her mouth hadn't moved._

 _He was glad that she got no satisfaction out of anyone get hurt..._

The early morning sun fluttered through the curtains, Finn cracking his sleepy blue eyes open… he wasn't entirely sure why he was holding Amanda to his left side but she was using his shoulder as an alternative to her pillow and her left arm was wrapped around him.

He reached over and lightly brushed her hair out of her face… as he suspected, her jawline was bruised from the force of Baron's hotel door hitting her face.

Finn also suspected that the NXT roster was resentful of him being NXT Champion... and instead of voicing their frustrations with the Demon King, they were taking their anger out on the Demon Mistress.

' _Why in the world would anyone ever maliciously hurt someone as sweet and loving as you?'_ Finn thought, his left hand resting on Amanda's smaller left hand… her sleepy hazel eyes opened and she stretched her legs out a bit.

"Morning, Finn…" Amanda said groggily, her head tilting up slightly as he cradled the back of it with his left hand and kissed her on the side of her head.

"Morning, love. Feeling any better?" Finn says, Amanda nodding slightly.

Amanda rested her head back onto Finn's left shoulder, his fingers absentmindedly running through her disheveled chestnut brown hair before burying his face into it... the faint coconut scent that greeted him also calmed his nerves and reassured him that she would be okay.

At the same time, the rest of the NXT roster had called a group meeting in the lobby… and to their surprise, the Raw and SmackDown rosters were there too.

But they all needed to vent out their thoughts and this was the most constructive way to do it.


	2. The Things We Notice

_**Last night, NXT Taping…**_

" _Calm down, Finn… I got knocked down, okay? It's not the first time it's happened." Amanda says, trying to calm Finn down as he held a gel pack onto the left side of her face… during their six person mixed tag match, she had been kicked off the apron by an aggressive Alexa and her face hit the side of the steel steps._

 _She didn't lose consciousness and wasn't bleeding or disoriented… but the ref stopped the match and called it a draw, which had angered Alexa._

 _Aestrid was walking around and walked over to them, asking what had happened._

" _Alexa got a bit too angry… well, more so than usual." Finn says._

" _He's worrying too much…" Amanda says, trying not to let the pain show but Aestrid could see through the facade like Finn could._

" _Sometimes I think that I'd pay to see her get a well deserved boot up the crack." Aestrid says, having long liked Alexa no more than they did._

" _When Hunter said that Alexa was looking for someone to help her learn from the older days when she first signed with the company, I should've told the old man to find someone else… stiff shots every once in a while, I can understand, it's happened before. Adrenaline runs high in that ring. Using an opponent as a punching bag, that's a different-" Amanda says._

 _Amanda stopped talking and muffled a painful groan, Finn lightly pressing the gel pack back onto her face… and Aestrid left, grabbing Alexa by her right arm when she found the blonde and red ombre haired diva and dragging her down the hall._

" _What the hell?!" Alexa demanded after Aestrid finally let go._

" _Yeah, my thoughts exactly when I see you like a savage beast out there on Amanda!" Aestrid says, her eyes narrowed and angered._

" _Savage?! Reckless, maybe." Alexa says._

" _What I don't get is that you know her neurological history and you targeted her head anyway and for what reason?! You knew Finn was gonna lose it!" Aestrid said._

" _Yep… and every moment was worth the outcome." Alexa said with a smile, a smile that said she really hadn't even put any thought to Amanda's neurological health._

 _The sickening smash and shrill scream that echoed made Finn and Amanda jump._

" _Oh, damn…" Amanda mutters._

" _She ain't a wrestler with us but she can sure hit like one…" Finn says, looking up towards the doorway._

" _Dean still hasn't forgiven her for giving him a black eye but he scared her with that Freddy Krueger mask." Amanda says as Aestrid walked in and closed the door. "Any blood?"_

" _Nope." Aestrid says._

 **Present time…**

Amanda hadn't counted on a headache that was near migraine strength, even after the stress from last night… when Aestrid walked into the room after Finn opened the door, she saw Amanda hiding her head under the covers.

"Expected nothing less." Aestrid says, turning down the lights brightness to weaken the stress it would put on Amanda's eyes.

"Thank you…" Amanda said, Aestrid noticing that Amanda couldn't fully open her mouth from how she sounded and walked over… she pulled the covers down gently and saw the split lip and bruises added to the one from the match.

Unlike Alexa's blow to Amanda's face, this one was much more forceful and caused by someone bigger.

"Baron Corbin is a raging asshole at times." Finn says, pressing a warm compress to Amanda's face and lightly brushing her chestnut curls back.

"He loves Mandy to death, why would he hurt her?" Aestrid asked.

"I turned up at his hotel room after a fight between Seth and myself… he slammed the door in my face and it hit me so hard that there was blood pouring from my mouth." Amanda says.

"That might explain the improvised company meeting in the lobby." Aestrid says.

"Wait, what? What the hell's wrong with everyone, did we piss them off that much?" Amanda asks.

"I guess so. I was about to go and listen up but stopped, there's a limit to how far I lean into things not about me." Aestrid says, Amanda having not heard the story behind that part of her but Finn remembering it, how Aestrid had once listened in too far to the wrong business.

Amanda pulled herself up to where she could sit and saw her phone, seeing a text from Enzo.

' _Tiny, this is madness!'_

' _Are they tearing mine and Finn's reputations to shreds in there?'_ Amanda replied.

' _That's one way of putting it, it's as though you two just trashed the President's office or something down here!'_

' _Fucking crazies. I don't know how you and Liv deal with them.'_ Amanda replies.

A knock at the door made her put her phone down and try to stand up, Finn stopping her as Aestrid opened the door and let Sami in… Sami's eyes widened in horror when he saw Amanda.

"Damn. Baron, you better get your ass in here and apologize!" Sami says, shouting the last part down the hall.

"Bite me, Sami!" Baron shouted back.

"I don't want a damn apology from the Lone Wolf, he can go back to Boxing!" Amanda says, Sami closing the door.

"Damn, it's really bad this time." Sami says, locking the door before he and Amanda hugged for a few seconds.

Amanda stretched back out after she and Aestrid hugged, Finn lying down next to Amanda before Aestrid and Sami left.

"I ain't seen her so damn down since The Shield split…" Sami says.

"It won't be the last time… but it doesn't make it at all right regardless." Aestrid says, carefully rubbing her left wrist as it ached, her having fallen on it when she misjudged a slope on her skateboard a few days before.

"You should get that checked out, where's your splint the ER doc gave you?" Sami asks, noticing the absence of the black splint.

"Somewhere in my room… the thing was digging into my arm." Aestrid says, looking over her wrist and Sami noticing how her tendons and veins on the inner side of her wrist were showing up a lot more than normal.

The two headed towards the room and heard a conversation.

"I don't think it's anyone's business, she's been kicked down a lot in life and he makes her feel safe and stronger." Colin says, Carmella nodding at that.

"Mandy's a good person, why don't people see that, babe?" Carmella says as the two hugged.

"At least someone's right in the head." Aestrid says.

"Yeah." Sami says as they walked into the room.

In their room, Amanda was struggling to keep the tears held back and Finn knew it… he wrapped his arms around her and she buried her head into his shoulder and let them fall.

"There are times I feel like I never left high school…" Amanda says.

"I get you there… even I think that sometimes." Finn says, lightly running his right hand along her back.

Amanda sniffled, feeling comforted by his touch… but it didn't help like it usually did.


	3. Clearing The Mind

**A/N: AU turn and graphic injury in flashback.**

 **A half hour later…**

Hunter usually didn't find many of his friends or employees at a park… but he could tell something was off when he found Finn and Amanda at a nearby bench, the older man walking over.

"What happened, kids?" Hunter asks.

"The majority of the company is pissed at us." Amanda says, her tired eyes looking at the man who had become like an uncle to her... no matter how much she tried to hide it with makeup, Hunter could tell when she was tired and bruised.

Out jogging with Roman, Aestrid was listening as he explained it.

"Most of that developmental branch throws sex parties every chance they get and yet had the nerve to trash Mandy and Finn." Roman says, his long black hair pulled back.

"Well that's the pot calling the tea kettle black if it ever happened." Aestrid says.

"Yep… fucking crazy, I think half of them are on cocaine or something. Ain't much changed since the 80s." Roman says as they stopped, him stretching his back and hearing a 'crick'.

"That has to cause you hassle sometimes, right?" Aestrid asks.

"Makes me feel older than 30." Roman says.

Aestrid saw Amanda and Finn but couldn't hear them talking to Hunter… but she could see the expression on Amanda's face and then the one on Roman's… it was clear that it hurt him seeing her so upset.

"All this stress makes me worry for her health…" Roman said quietly.

At the Amway Centre for the non televised event, Roman decided to call Galina.

"Hey, babe. Everything okay?" Galina says after answering her phone.

"Far from it, Lina. It's not me this time, it's Mandy. She's upset and I don't know how to comfort her." Roman says.

"What all happened, Roman?" Galina asked, concerned because she also thought of Amanda as a sister.

"Mostly everyone held a meeting earlier about Mandy and Finn's friendship… it was brutal how they were tearing them down, I went and punched a few of the men before I left it." Roman says.

"One of them was Seth…" Galina says, knowing already from how her husband sounded.

Down the hallway, Aestrid saw Amanda walk past her and briefly nod, the eye makeup in the more natural cat eye look that Amanda preferred… before Aestrid heard a sickening smack and a scream.

"You backstabbing bastard!" Amanda yelled, Seth's mouth split open.

"He'll feel that in the morning." Aestrid muttered… but with a small smirk, knowing that Seth was getting what he and the others deserved.

"Hey, hey! What the hell's going on here?!" Dean exclaimed as he rushed over to pull them apart from each other but by then, Amanda's small fists had hit Seth repeatedly. "Mandy, did someone tell you what went down at the meeting?" He asked.

"That it was similar to them treating me and Finn like criminals who are more suited for death row!" Amanda said, face red from anger.

"Well yes but not Roman or me, you know we'll never do that to you. Sami and several others were just as pissed." Dean says.

"I know… but it's starting to seem like I should have known better than to trust the others the same." Amanda says, her eyes briefly clenched shut as she said the second half.

"Go cool down." Dean says, kissing her on the side of her head before she left and then glaring at Seth.

"A death glare, Dean? That's a bit much." Seth says.

"You broke her fucking heart when you injured her! And yet you got pissed when she turned to someone outside our group, why?!" Dean growled, grabbing Seth by his shirt collar, which startled Aestrid a bit.

The locker room door opened and closed quickly, Finn turning and seeing Amanda with bruising and bleeding knuckles and walking to her.

"I let all hell loose on that son of a bitch…" Amanda says as Finn found a first aid kit and patched her hands up. "I know you say anger doesn't help but I saw that smug smirk and I snapped." She admitted, flinching slightly as the lidocaine started to sting the cuts.

"Some of these bruises are shaped like you hit his ribcage…" Finn says as the door opened and a startled Sasha was guided in by Aestrid.

"She's seen through the wars." Aestrid says, guiding Sasha to a bench and sitting her down.

"That was brutal… were you an ECW fan as a child, Mandy?" Sasha says.

"Yeah… flaming tables and barbed wire bats, no wonder it aired late at night." Amanda says as Finn had finished bandaging her hands, Aestrid cringing at the thought of a table on fire and a wrestler being put through it.

"They're crazier in New Japan… never fully forgave Kenny for giving me a concussion once." Finn says.

"Why was it a Taipei Deathmatch? I thought those were banned after Mick lost part of his ear." Amanda says, Aestrid wondering the same thing.

"He lost part of an ear?!" Aestrid asked.

"That was one of many injuries that nearly ended Mick Foley's career." Amanda says, sitting down.

"I remember what nearly ended my skating a year and a bit back… you ever fallen, then looked down and realised that your foot was suddenly on backwards?" Aestrid says.

"Well, not my foot or me to an extent but..." Amanda started to explain, Aestrid remembering.

 _ **Two months ago, NXT: TakeOver: Brooklyn…**_

 _She didn't even want to open her eyes, his screams piercing her brain and ears as she tried her best to free Kevin's trapped arm._

" _Kevin, stop struggling!" Amanda yelled in panic before the former NXT Champion kicked her across the ring, Amanda landing hard against the exposed turnbuckle as her eyes shot open before she fell._

" _Mandy!" Finn says, forgetting about Kevin and running to the small brunette, helping her sit up as Kevin had fallen out of the ladder that had trapped his now bleeding right arm._

 _Amanda screamed in fright as she realised that it wasn't just Kevin's arm… his right thumb was completely backwards and cut open deep, Kevin realising it after Amanda had screamed._

 _In the backstage area, it was a mob scene as Aestrid pushed her way through the crowd and saw that Amanda had thrown up after seeing the blood and broken thumb… but she hadn't seen it herself as the camera had cut away to the parking lot of the Barclays Center._

" _The fuck is going on?! They cut the feed as it happened!" Aestrid shouted over the noise of everyone else._

" _It was horrible, he had…" Bayley sobbed, Aestrid trying to calm her down. "There was too much blood…"_

 _Aestrid reached Amanda and Finn, who had his hands rubbing up and down Amanda's back as she was frighteningly pale._

 _Amanda looked at Aestrid… and then down at her own thumb, making a small motion as if it were twisted backwards, Aestrid realising why she was horrified._

" _Well… fuck, that's why it's so chaotic and the feed cut… good job protecting the children, control room." Aestrid says._

" _They didn't need to see it… I went with what the script said, to dropkick him… it was an accident, I swear I wasn't trying to…" Amanda said through her tears, Finn pulling her into his arms._

" _They made the ring out of cheap crap, not you… I'm gonna see if I can… stomach checking on him." Aestrid says before standing upright again from her crouched position._

 _Aestrid left, finding Kevin on a nearby gurney with tears trailing down his face._

" _All that blood… Mandy told them no dropkicks into ladders and they wrote it down anyway…" Kevin said through the agonizing pain as he tried to prevent Aestrid from seeing the wound._

" _Minus the blood, my foot looked just like that a year ago, It's okay… whoever designed that ring set needs to be shoved out the door." Aestrid says._

" _I said that after it caved in twice. Is she okay, did I break her ribs?" Kevin says, managing to brush his tears away._

" _I don't think so… she's heaved back up her breakfast, mind you." Aestrid says, resting a hand carefully on Kevin's shoulder._

" _Damn…" Kevin says…_

 **Present time…**

"Ladder matches can go horribly wrong… before that, the last one that did had Joey Mercury being sent to the hospital." Amanda says after standing up.

"I never liked ladders in general… always freaked me out when someone would start off up those lighting frames." Aestrid says.

"We all block out the danger… being up there, you feel that rush of energy…" Amanda says before the door opened and Hunter walked in, dragging Seth by his right ear.

"Do we even want to know where you found him?" Finn asks, his right hand resting on Amanda's back as she tensed up.

"Out in the parking lot, armed with a baseball bat, trying to escape security and not necessarily peacefully." Hunter says, letting go of Seth after closing the door.

"Just like Tijuana all over again." Sasha mutters.

Amanda turned to unzip her bag, Hunter seeing her bandaged hands.

"See?! Told you she tried to kill me!" Seth says angrily, Aestrid seeing Amanda holding something and realised they were the Crossfit wrist wraps and Redesign, Rebuild, Reclaim hoodie before she shoved them at Seth.

"I don't want anything reminding me of you… now go." Amanda said quietly, Seth leaving... Amanda leaned into Finn as his arms wrapped around her shoulders, her left hand squeezing his right one as he kissed her forehead.


	4. Build The Wall Back Up?

**A few hours later…**

Dressed in her black and red shorts, black and red crisscrossed style sleeveless halter cropped top and readjusting the Balor Club armband on her right arm, Amanda pulled her knee pads on as Finn, Aestrid and Bayley walked in.

"You sure about this, Mandy?" Finn asks as Amanda tugged on the laces of her ring boots a bit tightly and tied them.

"Can't go back, it's already scripted for tonight." Amanda says.

Bayley looked at her phone, seeing a text from Charlotte.

' _I take it she's insisting on going through with the match? She doesn't need to.'_

' _You try telling her that, there's no backing her out.'_ Bayley replied.

Amanda stood up, her and Finn hugging for a bit longer than they usually did before finding Charlotte.

"Ready, old friend?" Amanda asked, trying to appear calm.

"You don't have to do this." Charlotte says.

"Charlotte, you've known me since we were kids… we're not the ones to back down when things go to hell." Amanda said as she pulled her hair into a ponytail.

The three headed to the curtain, Charlotte heading out there first. Amanda and Finn headed out there next.

It wasn't long before the tag match was underway, Amanda putting Alexa in a headlock before she trapped the tiny diva into the corner.

Charlotte made the tag… but Alexa got furious and a brawl ensued, Amanda pulling Alexa off and punching her in the face.

"Hurt me all you want but try to injure my friends and you're in over your head, bitch!" Amanda shouted, her foot connecting with Alexa's right leg and Alexa pulling herself up with the help of the ring ropes as Charlotte pulled Amanda out of the ring and to Finn.

Alexa tried to go after them as Finn took Amanda to the back but Charlotte and Carmella stopped her.

"She damn near broke my leg, why are you protecting her?!" Alexa screamed.

"I watched that girl grow up, saw her pick herself back up and you want to knock her down and keep her down! That sure as hell won't happen so your next option, rile Balor up so he'll be thrown off and lose focus of everything except her! What the fuck, Alexa?! Do you hate them that much?!" Charlotte yelled, her North Carolina accent slipping through.

In the back, Amanda was on a crate with Finn next to her and her head aching from the stress, lack of food and the feeling of betrayal from Seth, Finn lightly rubbing Amanda's shoulders as Aestrid carefully approached them, putting a wrapped up cheeseburger in Amanda's hands, Amanda unwrapping it and crumpling the foil up.

Amanda silently thanked Aestrid with a nod and ate slowly, taking deep breaths after and closing her eyes.

"We're all supposed to be a family, look out for each other… why are we ripping apart at the seams?" Amanda managed to ask after opening her eyes.

"People go haywire at times." Aestrid says.

But little did Amanda know just how haywire.

 _ **Two weeks later, WWE Raw, Amanda vs Charlotte…**_

"No rivalry here, just a match between two well respected competitors… welcome back to Raw, I'm Michael Cole alongside Booker T and for tonight, NXT commentator, Corey Graves." Michael says.

"While there's no rivalry here between Charlotte and Mandy, tensions have boiled over between the young diva and former Shield teammate Seth Rollins over Mandy's friendship with NXT Champion, Finn Balor. Corey, what's your take on the situation and who's the inflammatory element in this?" Booker said, asking the last part as Amanda used a running corner dropkick against Charlotte.

"When the Shield splintered apart, it had taken more of a toll on Mandy and like anyone hurting, she sought out companionship in someone new." Corey says.

At ringside, Finn watched as Amanda and Charlotte went spilling off the top turnbuckle and both fell to the mat outside, his eyes widening when he heard a sickening pop from Charlotte's right shoulder and Amanda's head and neck bounce off from the mat itself.

Amanda's eyes welled up with tears as she was helped up to a sitting position by Finn and the match was waved off as medics ran out when the ref crossed his arms into an X symbol.

"Charlotte, I'm so sorry…" Amanda whispered as she reached over to help, Charlotte trying to calm her.

"It's okay… occupational hazard, we all know it HAPPENS, Damn it!" Charlotte says, yelling at the end as her shoulder was jammed back into place.

Finn, Amanda and the medics helped Charlotte up and Charlotte was taken to the back as Amanda crouched down and lowered her head… she looked up when she felt a hand on her own shoulder and saw Finn with a sympathetic look on his face, Amanda standing up.

But in the backstage area, Amanda let it all out… she was angry at herself for not being properly aware of how high up they were and kicked a production crate before tossing some things around in her charged up state and tears running down her face, only stopping when she felt Finn's arms lock around her waist before he turned her to him, his hands cradling her face.

"It's not your fault, Mandy. It's just one of those things that happens, little accidents like that. We've all dished them out and most have been on the poor receiving end of them too." Finn said in a soft tone, holding her close to him and planting a kiss on the top of her head.

Amanda took deep breaths to try to calm her racing heart as she felt Finn's right hand rub up and down her back... Finn stopped when he noticed that bruises were forming on Amanda's neck and upper back before sitting down and pulling her into his lap as Hunter and Stephanie reached them with an ice pack and tape.

"I told you I didn't like the way they landed on that mat…" Stephanie says as Hunter carefully taped the ice pack to the bruised part of Amanda's body.

In his locker room, Seth was trying to shake off the horror he felt but couldn't.

' _I have to fix things… before I lose her for good.'_ Seth thought, pulling himself up.

In their own locker room, Amanda was on the couch with her head in Finn's lap and his right hand running along her back while the fingers on his left ran through her hair.

Her pulse had stopped racing… she was slowly calming down and he was gonna keep her calm.


	5. Crashed Out And Vulnerable

_**Three and a half weeks ago...**_

" _Why would it matter to you? How can I be faulted for overprotective friends, it was your boyfriend who kicked me in the face!" Amanda yelled at a seething Alexa, who was upset about Finn dislocating Murphy's right arm after a kick to Amanda's face and left eye. "You noticed that Finn can be overprotective, why didn't you shout at Murphy to stop what he was doing?"_

" _Why would I? Yes, I have noticed and I wasn't the only one." Alexa says._

" _So why is it any of your concern? Mine and Finn's closeness doesn't affect you one little bit." Amanda said, turning to leave but Alexa stopped her._

" _And yet it caused him to flip out, didn't it?! If you two weren't 'close', personal things wouldn't have made him put Murphy on a fucking stretcher!" Alexa shouted._

" _Ain't my fault you picked a man with a raging temper… now unless you want to lose that hand, shove off." Amanda says._

 _Alexa backed up and Amanda left, walking into her and Finn's locker room… it was easy to see he was still angry so she was careful when she rested her right hand on his left shoulder and he reached his right arm over and squeezed her hand._

" _It's okay, Finn…" Amanda whispered as he turned around, pulling her to him after wrapping his arm around her back and lightly kissing her on her head…_

 _He still had a bit of red coloring in his face from the leftover anger... and he could tell from Amanda's shaking body that Alexa and Murphy had set the part in the match up and didn't tell anyone._

" _You've been through enough with life threatening neurological issues, I don't want it happening again…" Finn whispered, his right hand running along Amanda's back._

 _A knock at the door startled them before the door opened, Enzo's eyes widening in shock when he saw the black eye that Amanda had._

" _I take it Lexa's on a warpath?" Enzo asked after closing the door._

" _They set this whole thing up… she thinks Mandy and I are too close." Finn explained, Enzo turning angry._

" _That little bitch needs to back off…" Enzo mutters but they could see it._

" _You think she has a point to what she said, Zo?" Amanda asked._

" _She's not the only one who's noticed, everyone has." Enzo says._

" _And it's driving them crazy." Finn says, still hanging onto Amanda._

" _It is but they've got no room to talk about you two with what goes on here after dark, things get damn crazy." Enzo says._

" _And they're going with the 'What happens here stays here.' mantra, I'm assuming?" Amanda asked._

" _Damn right, Tiny." Enzo says._

" _And I thought this company was crazy when I was younger… you wouldn't believe the things I've inadvertently walked in on." Amanda says as Finn rubbed his hand up and down her back..._

 **Present time...**

At the hotel later after being checked out and confirming that it was just a few bruises, Amanda got cleaned up and then pulled on one of Finn's shirts as a creature comfort, climbing into it and Finn carefully wrapping his right arm around her.

The inviting mixed scent of coconut, vanilla bean and warm caramel didn't completely calm either of them as he could tell that she was still upset about what had happened earlier on top of everything that had been going on… and her being upset and stressed made him feel horrible for her.

Finn was careful as he pulled Amanda closer to him, Amanda resting her head on his right shoulder and burying her face into it as she wrapped her arms around him… he understood it, everyone needed a hug every now and then.

It wasn't long before she fell asleep, the drain of the long day finally catching up with her.

In the hotel bar, Enzo and Aestrid were talking.

"Every word of what Roman told you was true… hell, I've been to some of these parties myself but stopped going not too long after Liv and I got together." Enzo admits, downing his beer.

"And they're going off the belief that Mandy had told Roman about the parties?" Aestrid asked.

"I was the one who told Roman… if Mandy had known earlier, she wouldn't have kept quiet because it would've driven her crazy." Enzo replies.

"Tends to happen with these things… not all secrets are that easy to keep." Aestrid says, lightly rubbing her right thumb over a spot on her left arm.

"You really should get that- watch out!" Enzo says, yanking Aestrid out of the way as a fistfight between Tye Dillinger and Alex Riley had spilled into the bar and the two crashed through the table.

Enzo grabbed the fire extinguisher and sprayed it at them, Tye and Alex coughing as they stood up.

"You two done acting like drunk morons?! You're lucky you didn't wake Mandy up or she'd split your skulls open!" Enzo says after tossing the extinguisher aside.

"She's long crashed out… and after what's happened, I don't blame her one bit." Tye says as he wiped the blood from his mouth, Aestrid handing him a few napkins. "Thanks." He says, pressing them to his mouth.

"Let me guess, this about Ember?" Enzo asked.

"Asshole here upset her, I didn't like it." Tye responds, Alex glaring at him.

"At least I wasn't flirting with Bayley like you were, you creep!" Alex growled, Aestrid glancing at Enzo.

"Are they always so dramatic over a little playful conversation?" Aestrid asks.

"Sometimes… you shoulda seen how it was in Europe back in May." Enzo says, shaking his head.

The two headed upstairs, seeing an open door… and a sleepy and startled Finn looking at them.

"Did the noise wake Mandy?" Aestrid asked.

"For a few seconds… who was fighting?" Finn responded.

"Tye and Alex." Enzo says, seeing Amanda's sleepy hazel eyes watching him and Aestrid. "We better go…"

The two left, Finn walking back into the room. With the door closed and locked, he climbed back into the bed.

"What about Alex and Tye, was that them brawling?" Amanda asked with a sleepy yawn, Finn resting his right hand on her left side.

"They're both lunatics after a few drinks." Finn says.

"Well they need to stop acting like drunken frat boys…" Amanda says, their eyes closing.


	6. Secret's Out

**The next morning, hotel lobby…**

"Would everyone just be quiet?!" Alexa shouted over the noise of the majority of the NXT roster.

Seated towards the back were Aestrid and Enzo.

"What happened when we were asleep?" Aestrid whispered.

"Someone fucking told Hunter everything!" Enzo said quietly.

"Wait… where's the champion?" Tye asks, noticing that Finn wasn't there.

"You know that he wouldn't come here if Mandy wasn't feeling healthy." Aestrid says.

"Riley, go wake them up." Baron says.

"You want to get whacked in the head with a bat, you're more than welcome to! I ain't waking her up!" Alex says.

The 6'8" Lone Wolf growled and headed upstairs to the second floor, Aestrid and Enzo following him and Baron knocking on the door… when it opened, a half asleep Amanda was looking at him after Finn had opened the door.

"Barely even 7am, what's going on now?" Amanda asked, pulling her disheveled curls into a ponytail.

"Someone told Hunter everything." Baron said, Amanda waking up completely.

"Well it wasn't us, we haven't spoken to him since the event last night and that was about what had happened with the match." Amanda says, Baron sitting down across from her.

Out in the hallway, Aestrid saw Murphy and stopped him from going into the room.

"It wasn't them, was it?" Murphy asked.

"Nope. What the hell's going on down in that lobby, they throwing accusations around?" Aestrid questioned as they walked into the room.

"It's chaos… but for a different reason." Murphy says.

In the room, Amanda was stood up and looking out the window… to no one's surprise, the press had swarmed the hotel and Finn rested his hands on her shoulders, knowing she wasn't in any mood to deal with them this morning.

Getting ready for the day, they met up with the others downstairs, Amanda already hiding her face with her hoodie and sunglasses.

"You two, out the back." Aestrid says, Alexa hearing that and turning angry.

"If we've gotta face the media hellstorm, so do they!" Alexa snarled.

"You don't care but we ain't dealing with their bullshit! And we sure as hell ain't dealing with yours!" Amanda says, her, Finn and Aestrid leaving.

At the arena for the SmackDown taping, Amanda heard the door open and saw Randy walk in.

"Oh are you a sight for sore eyes." Amanda said as they hugged.

"Could say the same to you… you look like hell." Randy says after they had let go.

"You saw what happened last night…" Amanda says, Randy nodding. "I'm gonna go clear my mind…" She said before leaving.

The arena was uncomfortably quiet as Amanda walked down the hallway… only to be snatched by her hair and pinned to the wall… the man holding her by her neck was Charlotte's older brother, David Flair.

"David… it was an accident…" Amanda choked out, trying to pry his hands off of her.

"You used to be a good girl, Mandy…" David growled.

"I haven't changed… why do you think I have?" Amanda said, letting out a loud gasp for air when he squeezed harder.

David screamed in pain when a chair was slammed into his back, Finn helping Amanda up and holding her to him as Hunter, Aestrid and Randy caught up to them.

"What the hell is the matter with you?! You know damn well it was an accident!" Hunter yelled after yanking David up to his feet.

"It happened because she's distracted by him!" David shouts.

"Don't go dragging Finn into this, David! You're the one who started choking me." Amanda says, rubbing her neck.

"In what ways do you think she's changed that are bad ways? All she did was grow up!" Aestrid said.

"Son of a bitch… you're the one who told Hunter." Amanda said, realising it when David looked at her.

"Because I was worried about my little sister… her marriage had fallen apart." David explained.

"Aw, fuck…" Aestrid hissed, turning away and walking a few paces.

Amanda followed Aestrid, the two looking at each other.

"The ones who were at the meeting, they're not…" Aestrid says.

"Gonna believe it one bit…" Amanda says, glancing at Aestrid's badly swollen wrist. "I think you need to go back to the ER." She says.

"Maybe… I can't bend it…" Aestrid says, showing that her arms started straining and shaking halfway along bending her wrist inwards.

In the trainer's room, Dr. Amann was examining Aestrid's wrist.

"I don't know how they missed a stress fracture…" Aestrid says after her wrist was x-rayed.

"When it's swollen at first, the scans can't tell the difference… when Mandy broke her thumb in 2010, it was diagnosed as a sprain but then she couldn't move it at all." Dr. Amann says after putting a cast on Aestrid's wrist.

Amanda was holding ice to her sore neck… but both noticed how quiet she was and cringing when she felt spasms of pain in her neck and head.

"Mandy?" Aestrid asks.

"I just need some air." Amanda says before she left… she leaned against the nearest wall she could find before feeling a hand lightly touch her neck… when she turned, she saw Finn with drops of her blood on his fingers.

"It's just… a small cut…" Amanda managed to say before losing consciousness, Finn catching her in his arms as Aestrid ran out to them before finding the paramedics.

 **Aestrid's perspective…**

All of it, all that's happened… too much on her. I walk out into the ER waiting room, finding a frantic Seth.

"How bad?" Seth asked.

"She had to be stitched up, has a mild concussion… though they think the concussion was from hitting her head last night." I say, trying to stay calm so he doesn't flip… even after everything, I can tell he still cares.

"She's been through enough… happens after enough impacts from these fights, it's easy to say night-night if you don't get a break midway." Seth says.

"I get that, do something too much and you can't resist it's affect as much… so came the reason for this." I say before standing on my left leg as I raised my right one up and held it up sideways, showing him the long surgical scar on my ankle… but he was more concerned with how almost creepily I was able to bend my knee to hold the lower leg sideways in my hands.

"Was that from the skateboarding accident?!" Seth asked.

"Yeah… 5 whole days of nothing but sleeping, skating and food breaks, eventually I was bound to mess something up… it just happened to be the point when I flipped the board over the edge of the sidewalk and landed with my foot… well, bent the wrong way around." I explain, lowering my foot back to the ground.

"One wrong landing and…" Seth said before revealing a surgical scar on the back of his neck. "They had to remove a disc about six years ago after I had cracked it during a match." He explained.

"That's nasty… friend of mine did the same sorta." I say, remembering when one of the people I often meet at the skate parks fell from the 90 ramp and received practically the same injury.

It wasn't long before we walked into the room that Mandy was in as her eyes were opening…

 **Amanda's perspective…**

Opening my eyes isn't easy… when they're open completely though, I see Finn, who immediately pulls me into his arms.

"Hey there…" I manage to say as we hug before letting go. My mind's blurry but from the IV in my left hand, I guess that's a side effect of the meds.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, Mandy. Next time you're hurting, you tell me." Finn says… I didn't think I would collapse today but he's right, I should've told him.

Aestrid and Seth walk in… and Seth and I look at each other before hugging.

"You're not yelling…" I say after we let go, unsure of what else to say.

"I'm not _that_ crazy, kiddo… there is a limit, even with me." Seth says.

"With all of us…" Aestrid says, me stretching out my sore neck… when we say that the mat doesn't protect us much, we mean it because under it is concrete.

The door opens again and it's Colin and Carmella who walk in with Enzo limping.

"Another fight?" I ask.

"Alexa damn near murdered me." Enzo admits, Finn and Seth glancing at each other… and I know that look.

"After this… back home to rest." I say, Aestrid nodding in agreement… she looks tired too.

When it's just me and Finn in the room again, I look up at him.

"We didn't realise how crazy things had truly gotten…" I say, my right hand in his left one.

"I don't want to let you out of my sight… stay with me when we head back." Finn says, me nodding without hesitation.


	7. Unwinding

**Third person perspective…**

"Is she awake?" Dean asked after Seth and Aestrid found him.

"Yeah, just aching and all. It's like me and skating, this wrestling you all do… if you don't take a break from it at least for a little while, your response to it gets worse. You can't ignore as much and eventually, small things bring you down… she'd just gone through enough and her body cut her off right where she stood." Aestrid says.

"It did… Mandy's never been one to slow down for long." Dean says, sitting down.

"It was just before I met you guys… but it didn't happen tonight, she just went into overdrive and tried to block the chaos out." Aestrid says, seeing a text from Nathan.

' _Hunter just called me… I knew something was wrong with how Mandy and Charlotte fell. Mandy taking time off?'_

' _Yes. We should be back in Orlando tomorrow.'_ Aestrid replied.

' _Is your wrist any better, kid?'_

' _A bit. Still won't move right though.'_ Aestrid replied.

' _Give it time and rest… body doesn't heal properly without both.'_

 **A few days later…**

Walking downstairs after getting cleaned off and into some warm pajamas, Amanda sat down next to Finn as Aestrid glanced at them from the kitchen.

"You two okay?" Aestrid asks.

"More rested…" Amanda said as she curled her legs up a bit and rested her head on Finn's right shoulder as he put his arm around her.

"Having each other helps too." Aestrid said, looking down at the magazine she'd been reading.

"Yeah… it does." Amanda says as her phone chimed, her seeing a text from John, who had checked in constantly since she had been off the road.

' _Sis, you okay?'_

' _Yes, John. I'm on the couch, watching Tv like I was the last time you checked in two hours ago.'_ Amanda replied.

' _Nothing else going on, right?'_

' _John, cut that out! I'm not 16 anymore!'_ Amanda replied, Aestrid and Finn seeing Amanda's face go red.

"The older brothers feel the need to embarrass their little sisters." Aestrid says.

"That doesn't describe it. Just before I had left Massachusetts 10 years ago, I had been watching Tv with a guy friend one afternoon and when Dan had gotten home, he tossed my friend right out of the house without a word." Amanda says.

"Sounds like my dad was. I'd brought someone I met at the park back to the garage to help him out with his board's faulty wheels, the axles weren't screwed into the board right. Dad showed up in the garage, saw us sat there working on the board… he sent the guy head first along the driveway and threw the board after him so hard it broke in half." Aestrid says.

Amanda cringed at that thought, absentmindedly rubbing her head and Aestrid and Finn realising that she still had a dull ache every now and then even with the medicine.

It was later into the evening when Aestrid answered her phone.

"How are you all holding up?" Hunter asked, Aestrid glancing at Amanda and Finn, both having fallen asleep on the couch.

"Recovering… and sorta regretting." Aestrid answered.

"This time of year brings up a lot of memories…" Hunter says, Aestrid knowing that as the holiday season approached, all kinds of emotions were stirred. She looked at the calendar, seeing that in a few weeks, it would be November… and that the 13th was circled…

 _ **Last year…**_

" _I guess there's no use in hiding it…" Amanda says after a few seconds, showing Aestrid an old picture. In it were Eddie, Chris and a younger Amanda._

" _Oh… you knew them all." Aestrid says._

" _Yeah… they had also started helping me train to wrestle. And it wasn't long after that… I had woken up that morning, the hallway was crowded… they were already taking Eddie away, he was gone." Amanda said as tears welled up, Aestrid pulling her into her arms. "I wanted to stay next to him that night but he said he'd be okay and not to worry…"_

" _I couldn't…" Aestrid started to say, cutting herself off as she had no idea how to voice what was going through her head._

 _The two let go, Amanda setting the photo aside._

" _I had shut down for a while… when I was feeling like that, Chris and I had been by each other's side, helping each other. But it took more out of him than me…" Amanda says as she brushed her tears away._

 _The curtains rustled slightly even though the window wasn't open and it startled Aestrid… but not Amanda._

" _Their spirits show up sometimes… then again, the spirit never completely leaves after death." Amanda said, Aestrid calming down…_

 **Present time…**

When Amanda opened her eyes again, she found herself tucked into the bed and looked up, seeing Finn.

"Aestrid head on home?" Amanda asked.

"Just to pick some things up, she'll be back." Finn said, stretching out next to Amanda.

"I worry about her… it took a while for her to trust us." Amanda said, lightly rubbing her eyes.

"Something happened to her, that much is obvious… She'll voice it in her own time." Finn says.

"Takes time to… I didn't open up about a lot when you and I first met. And then I flipped out at Kevin when he accused me of still harming myself… right on live Tv too." Amanda said as Finn ran his right hand along her left arm and hand, tracing his fingers along the scar on her palm. "I rarely get that angry, Finn… but he had snapped my heart in half that night."

"Makes me wonder if something like that happened to Aestrid, being publicly called out on something. She's not as used to being watched as us, maybe by a few dozen at the skate park but not hundreds, thousands and all that… Being called out in front of so many people might affect her a lot longer term than it would you or me." Finn said.

"We try our best… to hide it, pretend it doesn't hurt so much. That's human nature, pretending we're okay when we're falling apart…" Amanda says as her head rested on his shoulder, Finn lightly stroking her hair as the door opened and Aestrid checked on them.

"You two still look tired…" Aestrid said.

"You feeling okay… has it stopped hurting long enough?" Amanda asked.

"Long enough to carry some things." Aestrid answered.

Before Amanda could ask the next question, thunder sounded in the sky and all three looked at each other.

"Welcome to the Sunshine state." Amanda says, Aestrid chuckling.


	8. This Kind Of Life

_**3/4/15, Full Sail University…**_

 _Aestrid's head snapped up at the noises and she headed to the trainer's room, finding Dr. Amann._

" _Oh damn, did she injure herself during that fight?" Dr. Amann asked after standing up._

" _Well she was hitting him hard but… why did he say what he did out there, confronting her about that scar?" Aestrid questioned, Amanda having not told her how it had happened._

" _Tension goes in, sense goes out I suppose." Dr. Amann says._

" _Yeah, I see that a lot. Not hardly ever that nasty though." Aestrid said._

 _The two found Amanda and Finn, who had been holding onto Amanda as she was still angry… they could see that from how tense her arms were._

" _Once… it was once. I didn't want to go on living, knowing what my friend had done… he wasn't the monster they made him out to be, he was suffering from blackouts because his brain resembled the one of an Alzheimer's patient." Amanda whispered, unclenching her left hand and the other three realising it… the scar was self inflicted._

" _The… fucking hell!" Aestrid growled before quickly leaving._

" _Ace?!" Amanda called after her, Ace being a nickname as it was the same pronunciation as the first half of Aestrid's name._

" _Stay here." Finn says, forcing Amanda to stay still._

" _She's gonna murder Owens!" Amanda says as Finn lightly cupped her face in his hands._

" _Not murder but… after his lack of respect out there, he needs a beating, love." Finn says, kissing Amanda on her forehead._

 _Aestrid hadn't been walking long before she saw Kevin, bruised and bleeding._

" _She nearly killed me out there…" Kevin manages to say, caught off guard when Aestrid kicked him between his legs._

" _Where the hell do you get off bringing up something that happened when she was a kid, something she couldn't control?!" Aestrid yelled._

" _I don't know, I got too into it! The script said to throw her off her momentum!" Kevin shouted in response._

" _No excuse, not fucking good enough!" Aestrid yelled… she was no wrestler, but she caught Kevin off guard with a common move sequence she used when things got heated in the past, often causing people to back off out of shock._

 _She swung both of her arms towards him from her left, her right hand impacting the side of his face while balled into a fist and less than a half second later, her left hand tightly gripped him by his throat, that being the position Finn found them in._

 _Running over, Finn pulled Aestrid away as Kevin fell to his knees gasping for air. Once in the locker room, the two found Amanda with her face no longer red but pale as she had heard the choking noises._

" _He's not dead…" Finn says, Amanda sitting back down._

 **Present time…**

Amanda opened her eyes and as she had anticipated, it was pouring rain outside. Sitting up, a 'crick' echoed from her spine as Finn had walked in, drenched from head to toe.

"Power's out?" Amanda asked.

"To be expected in storms like this." Finn said while catching his breath and hanging up his jacket to dry.

"If it's not raining one day, it's either blistering hot or strangely cold…" Amanda says as she stood up and walked over, helping Finn pull his shirt off but it caught him off guard at first. "Hey, you don't need to be getting sick, Finn."

She tossed the shirt aside as he dried himself off with a towel before looking outside and back at Amanda, who was pretending not to watch him… but he could see the faint redness in her face.

"Are you lappin' up some cheeky peeks, lassie?" Finn asked, emphasising his accent more than normal in a slight joking manner.

"I've… tried to be subtle about it…" Amanda manages to say, her voice partly stuck in her throat as she felt his right hand on her face. "It's… not easy to…"

Aestrid had walked into the house, also soaked partly with Nathan behind her.

"Aren't they normally awake now? It's 10 in the morning." Nathan says, helping Aestrid dry her arms off.

Aestrid headed upstairs to check on them… when she saw the door cracked open, she looked and her eyes widened as she saw Finn and Amanda kissing. She headed downstairs, Nathan seeing the look on her face.

"I'd… leave those two alone." Aestrid advised.

"Probably for the best." Nathan says as the door opened and Sami walked in, soaked and cursing under his breath.

Upstairs, Finn and Amanda looked at each other as they were catching their breath, her left hand in his right one and his right hand braced on her lower back.

"Get up, you two!" Sami said from downstairs, yelping when Aestrid smacked him upside the head.

"On with your business, it's early in the morning!" Aestrid shouted up to them while dragging Sami into the living room.

"Now I wish I hadn't left the key back at the hotel that day…" Amanda says, her and Finn kissing again.

And then they remembered…

"We have the NXT tapings later, provided this storm…" Amanda says, seeing that the storm had slacked up considerably and could feel the A/C flip back on.

Changing into drier clothes, Finn headed downstairs and Sami noticed the faint scent of Amanda's vanilla chapstick.

"About damn time you two kissed!" Sami says. It was a few seconds later that Amanda, wearing yoga pants under the oversized Balor Club shirt, walked downstairs and Aestrid could see a barely noticeable bite in her lower lip.

"Enjoy it… It is about time." Aestrid said.

It was later at Full Sail University that Aestrid was helping Hunter with the production crates.

"I appreciate this but you really should be resting that wrist, Ace." Hunter says as they set the last one aside.

"Working it is exactly what physio makes you do, I'm fine." Aestrid says.

"Speaking of healing and I know I keep asking but how's Mandy?" Hunter questions.

"She's a lot better." Aestrid says.

At the same time, Corey had opened the door to Finn and Amanda's locker room… but hadn't expected to see them kissing and as odd luck would have it, Isabella was with him and he quickly covered her eyes as Amanda and Finn had stopped.

"So sorry, Izzy…" Amanda says, the tiny 4 year old giggling as Corey picked her up.

"Daddy, are they okay? Why were they doing that?" Isabella asks as she looked at Corey.

"I'll… explain when you're a bit older." Corey says as he saw Aestrid walk towards them.

"You caught them…" Aestrid says.

"Yeah…" Corey says as he and the two headed down the hall and Amanda had closed the door.

"Reminds me of when Joelle was three and she had asked me why her parents were kissing…" Amanda said as Finn rested his hands on her arms.

"Kids don't know any better at that age." Finn says before they kissed again.

"Of course if it had been an adult that had walked in, we would've gotten more questions… or if it had been one of my brothers, they would've tried to beat you to death." Amanda said as they sat down.

"Like Ace did to Kevin… I would not like to be on the receiving end of what she pulled on him." Finn said.

"Me either and that's coming from someone who was trapped in that chokehold Joe uses." Amanda says as the door opened… almost as if on cue, it was Samoa Joe.

"Heard Corey's daughter talking…" Joe says with a slight smirk.

"You were taking bets on how long it would take, right?" Amanda asked.

"Sort of… well, I'll let you two be." Joe says before leaving.

Finn locked the door and put his phone in the sound amplifier for it, _Little Wing_ by Stevie Ray Vaughan playing and him and Amanda holding each other as they danced slowly to it.

Both felt themselves calming down after days of chaos… and they needed it.


	9. Acceptance?

**A/N: To the guest who left the last review, thank you, it really lifted my spirits in these troubling times. And a bit of advice to anyone, have a background check run on a property manager before renting a house from them because the one I trusted screwed me over basically. I won't go into much further detail than that now, don't want to bring the mood back down.**

 **And here's chapter 9 of Stay With Me. :)**

 _ **WWE Fastlane 2015, after six man tag…**_

" _Hey… that was great out there." Seth heard, seeing Amanda… she reached out to hug him but stopped when he lightly pressed his fingers into her collarbone. "Okay, that's not like you at all… what's going on here, Seth?" The 24 year old diva said, confused._

" _Nothing." Seth answered and turned to leave… he reached the edge of the hallway when he heard "You know, I'm getting really sick of this, Rollins!" and turned back, walking to Amanda._

" _What did you just say to me?!" Seth demanded._

" _Lately, you've treated me like we barely know each other… and you might not care but that hurts me, Seth. What did I do wrong, why don't you want anything to do with me anymore?" Amanda responded, Seth slamming the Money In The Bank briefcase down in rage and muttering a name under his breath… but Amanda heard it. "He is my friend but the Demon King and Demon Mistress thing, it's just a storyline, Seth. Just like The Shield splitting apart was for the cameras, it shouldn't affect us backstage." She said before he turned back to her._

" _Well it does! Before we know it, you'll be in the same bed and room, you'll be walking out into the arena hand in hand, leg up and lips together and it will be far from 'just an act'!" Seth said._

 _Amanda closed her hazel eyes for a split second and balled up her left hand, only to open her eyes and see her old friend Joey Mercury._

" _Both of you calm down." Joey said, trying to keep the peace between the two._

" _Joey, stay outta this!" Seth snapped at him._

 _Amanda carefully pulled her hand away and walked off, Joey turning to Seth._

" _That was low, even for you! Mandy is a damn loyal friend, you idiot! And now you just want to kick her to the side because she's found the kind of happiness she hasn't had in years?!" Joey said._

" _The second I get my loyal friend back, I'll rethink it!" Seth responded before leaving._

 _Down the hallway, Amanda pulled her hood of her Balor Club hoodie over her head, wanting to just disappear entirely._

 _This was a lot different than NXT but_ _for Finn, it was a good way to learn, watching the main roster matches in person._

 _He stopped for a few seconds when he heard sniffling… the parts of chestnut hair sticking out from the hoodie the small woman was wearing was a dead giveaway to him. But in the few months he had known Amanda, he had never seen her this upset and walked over, crouching down and resting his hands on her knees._

 _Amanda looked up, brushing her tears away._

" _I feel so stupid… I thought that Seth and I had hit a rough patch in our friendship but that we'd fix it…" Amanda said, her voice croaky. "Why did I even bother trying? He just keeps pushing me away_ … _I called him out on it and things went to hell." She said, Finn pulling her into his arms… out of instinct, her arms_ _wrapped around him and her head rested on his left shoulder._

" _He's the one who's stupid, not you. He doesn't see what this does to you." Finn whispered before he picked Amanda up off the floor and took her to where her locker room was, putting_ _her on the couch._

 _He knew this was one of those times where she wished she could drink a glass of whiskey to soothe her nerves._

" _I was also gonna talk to him about tomorrow night's event…"_ _Amanda said, trailing off as she curled her legs up a bit so Finn could sit down. "It wouldn't be the first time in this business that it's happened, storyline relationships turning real off camera… he's acting like I betrayed him." She said quietly, Finn wrapping his arm around her shoulders after she sat up. "I'm just… I'm gonna go tell Hunter what happened and about everything…"_

 _Amanda started to stand up but stopped when Finn's left hand wrapped around her right wrist._

" _Whatever happens… between you and me or anyone else, it's none of Seth's business… there's nothing he can do but mouth off about it like a jealous little child." Finn said._

" _Who's gonna believe him anyway?... he needs to get his own life together." Amanda responded, starting to feel calmer._

" _Exactly, and we're far from the only ones who know that." Finn said, Amanda sitting down again. "Times like these… are when we find out who our true friends and companions are." He said as he wrapped his arms around her when both stretched out on the couch, her resting her head on his torso._

 _Nothing could beat a bad day away better than a hug…_

 **Present time…**

The NXT taping was just starting, Amanda a bit nervous. She knew her cue to head out there… but it was interrupted.

"Show's still NXT, right?!" Finn and Amanda heard, looking at the monitor and seeing Seth in the ring. "The funny thing is, this is where it all started last year when he walked into your life… so Mandy, either you or Finn get out here but one of you has to answer to everyone you've lied to!" Seth shouted, the fans booing him loudly.

Seth had now just dragged whatever progress was made back into reverse.

"Let's deal with this." Finn and Amanda said simultaneously before her right hand slipped into his left one and they headed out there.

"What was that one thing he said back in February, love? Leg up?" Finn asked with a smirk.

Amanda smirked back and the two kissed as Seth's ranting continued.

The lights dimmed, flickered from black to red and Seth looked around, trying to see properly.

 _Catch Your Breath_ by CFO$ played when the lights were back on and Seth looked out into the stage, seeing Finn pull Amanda closer to him and move her left leg up to his right hip, the two kissing as her right hand remained entwined in his left one and her left arm wrapped around him.

Seth was livid to see smiles on their faces that were actual ones and not just for the cameras… in his mind, his worst fear was true.


End file.
